Piano-player attachment.



D 9 1 n L U J D E T N E T A P R 0 Y R P B G PIANO PLAYER ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION mum AUG. 29.1907.

6 ijlHBETS-SHEBT 1,

vi llitl.

A II III II III I A TTOHNE rs- PATENTED JULY 28, 1908.

c. E. PRYOR. PIANO PLAYER ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29,1907.

5 SHEETSSH.EET 2.

INVENTUH CZazvme EJmzZZZ yar 5 Arrow/5m W /ZNESSES i /4M PATENTED JULY 28, 1908.

q. PRYOR. PIA-N0 PLAYER ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29,1907.

5 SHEETSSHEET 3.

(whee WITNESSES. I

a my E w ATTORNEYS No, 894,695; PATENTED JULY 28, 1908. G. E. PRYOR.

PIANO PLAYER ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUQ.29,1907.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

[114M Zcu-ence' Elzz wdl z yor er d I A TTORNEYS To all whom may concern:

CLARENCE ELWOOD PRYOR, OF BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK.

PIANO-PLAYER ATTACHMENT.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 28, 1908.

Application filed August 29, 1967. SerialNo. 390,571.

Be it known'that I, CLARENCE Enwoon PRYoR, a citizen of the United States, and a "resident of Binghamton, in the county of having pneumatic action, my more partic- Attachment, of which t Brooms and State of New ,York, have invented anew and Im roved Piano-Player e following is a full, clear and exact description.

\ .My invention relates to musical 'instru-' ments and more particularly to piano players "ularpurpose being to provide means under easy. control of the operator for opening and closing the doors by the depression of a pedal or other simple movement.

Reference is to be had to the accompany ing drawings forming a part'of this reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a piano player equipped with my invention, the ends of the-instrument being broken awavto disclose my preferred arrangement of levers;

, shownin ig. '3, and parts immediately-asso- Fig. 2 is a. sectional plan'taken 'on the line 2-2 of Fig. 6; Fig".is an enlarged front elevation of the reversing mechanism used for manipulating the various lever mechanisms ein loyed'foropening and closing the doors; B 'g'. ,f1' is a side yiew, )artly in section, and part1 in elevation, of the mechanism ciatdtherewith; Fig. 5 is a section upon the line-'5-5,"of Fig. 6 showing the connection .betweenthe revers'n" mechanism and the I b pedal; Fig. 6 is a vertical section through the entire piano )layer, taken upon the line 6'6 of Fig. 1; ig. 7 is an enlarged cross section through the middle front portion of the key-bed of a piano, showing the door )artially surrounding the expression levers;

ig. 8 is a front view partly in section and partly in elevation, showing a slightly differentform of the invention, the principal difference being in the manner in which the doors are connected with the lever mechanisms for operating them; Fig. 9 is a sectional plan upon the line 9-S) ofFig. H), and showsthe arrangement of the sliding doors andlevers,

:as arranged in the mechanism in Fig. 8; Fig.

10 is a vertical section upon the line 10l0 of Fig. 8; and Fig. 1] is an enlarged section, somewhat similar to Fig. 7, but showing the housing for the expression levers as open.

A piano back is shown at 10, a sounding board at H, and a piano plate at 12. A

music sheet and box anneal at 1.3 and are specificaplunger. A pointed set screw sides of the plunger.

made in the usual form. The pneumatic action box is shown at 14, the key bed at 15, the lock :strip at 16 andthe expression levers at l6.' The doors of the music sheet .box are shown at 17, and at 18 to the bellows treadles. The doors 17 and 18 are adapted to slide back when not in use.

At 19 is the center pedal usually found on modern .pianos and at 19 isa spring for re tracting the same.

All of the arts just mention ed being common and welfknown, no further description of them will be given. To thepedal 19 is pivoted a plu'nger20, this plunger being perforated, as indicated in Fi 5, for the purpose of allowing lateral radia movement of the for facilit'atin this pur ose. extends loose y throng a guide 22 and is engaged by springs 22 dis osed u on opposite 7 he gui e 22 is integral with a'bracket 23 which may be secured appears the door 21 is provided The p1unger20 upon any convenient part of the instrument.

According to Fi s. 1, 2 and 6 the bracket is mounted upon ti while in Figs. '8, 9 and 10 it is shown as fastened to the floorof the case.

arms of which swing pawls 25, 25, each pawl being fashioned at 1ts lower end intoa shallow fork for the purpose of engaging the plunger 20. A spring 26 restrains these pawls and keeps them close together, the pawls being limited by shoulders 27 and thirnbles 28 upon a slideway 29. The double tee-lever is connected by rods 30,- 30 with levers 31', 31. The levers 31 and 31 shafts 32, 32 which carry levers 33 and 33. These levers actuate rods 3 1, 34 connected with levers 35, 35 mounted. on shafts 36, 36", the latter carrying levers 37 37, and these levers in turn actuate rods 38, 38 connected t% the doors 17. Mounted upon the shaft 32' ig.

arm is arod 40 for openingand closing the door 18. The shaft 32 also carries an arm 41 rigidly mounted thercupon and a rod 42 connects this arm with a bell crank lever 43, the latter being connected. with a rod 44 for the purpose of opening and closing the hinged" While the door 16* of the lock strip 16. drawings show my preferred form and construction for these p'arts, I do not limitmyself to the particular form shown. The hinged door 16 constitutes a closure memher which covers the expression levers 16* To the bracket 23 is pivoted a double tee-lever 24 from the is an arm 39 and connected with this e key'bed and piano plate,

are .mounted upon i 1 to 7 inclusivei I at all times whenthe piano is not operated automatically and when it is being played by hand. Likewise, all of the other doors or closure members are closed whenever the piano is not operated automatically and when it is being operated manually. When the piano is bein played by the pneumatics, however, all of the doors must be open.

In the form shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10, the construction differs a little from that shown in the other figures with respect to the location of the various arms and shaftsupon which they are mounted, the essential principle, however, being the same in' all cases. In Figs. 8, 9 and 10 the various doors are shown at 16 17" and-l8. The doors 18" are connecte with rods 40", which are pivoted to arms 39, the latter-being mounted rigidly upon the rocking shafts 32?. "Similarly the doors 17 are connected withrods 38 which are pivoted to arms 33" mounted rigidly upon the rocking shaft 32". The reversing mechanism operates a rod 30 and an arm I 31' the latter being also mountedupon the 25 rocking shaft 32". AnOther'armAIP, mounted 'upon this rocking shaft, is cmmected by a rod 42 with a rod- 44*," which controls the opening and closin ,of the d6or16 above described. .The bel crank 43 (Fig. 9) is connected by the rod 44 with the door 16". The reversing mechanism shown in 8, 9 and 10 is substantially the same as in igs.

. The operation of my device is as follows:' Assuming the parts to be in the positions indicated in all of the figures except Fig. 11, and that the performer wishes to play b aid of neumatics, he depresses the peda 19. This causes the longer 20 to rise and engage the lowlerend o the pawl and thus move the pawl upward. his causes the lever 24 to rock into the position indicated by broken lines in Fig. 3, and the movement, being transferred through the various arms, rock- 46 o ens all of the doors. When the plunger 20 t us rises and engages the lower end of the pawl 25', the latter travels obliquely upward, making, at'the same moment, a slig t 50 radial movement. This is because the pawl is pivoted at its upper end and is guided at pomts adjacent its middle ortion, as will be understood from Fig. 3. e movement of the awl ma be understood by contrasting the ull and roken lines in Fig. 3. The upward movement of the-plunger 20 andpawl 25, in rocking'the tee-e awl 25 to descend, as indicated by broken ines in Fi The awl 25 being guided by the shouh ers. 27 and 28, slips downwardly, as indicated by broken lines m Fig. 3, and is enabled to catch upon the up r end of the plunger 20, being held in position by a slprirrlg 26. The movement having been comp ete ing shafts and rods connected therewith,-

ver 24, causes the open, the operator removes his foot from the middle pedal 19. The spring 19' now causes the plunger to free itself from the pawl 25 and to drop. into normal position. 'In doing this it is assisted by pressure of the-s rings 22 and .22". These springs tendto l: plunger 20 properly centered," yet allow it a slight latera movement necessary to accommodate itself to its changing position when in engagement with either of t e pawls. This lunger 20 is down, the pawl 25 is down and lts'lowermost end is in alinernent with the upper end of the plu r 20 and the awl 25 is out of the'way of t e plunger. e erformer may now pull forward the be ows pedals forthe purpose of playing b aid'of pneumatics. When he wishes to c os'e the doors he merely resses the pedal as before.

25 and t e movement being transmitted wise to assume their 'eorrespon i'ng respec-' tive positions. The bellows pedals are now put back by hand. a

In Fig. 11 the movablelock strip is s own as oecupyin its open position in order to enable the pe orr'ner to operate the expression levers'.

I do not limit myself to any particular and described orany pprticular part.

Having thus descrl ed my invention, claim as new and desire to secure by Lette Patent: 7 t

1. A device of the character describe comprising a case provided with doors, mec

anism connected with said-doors for ope and closin cludi a ever, pawls connected withsaid lever or actuatin the latter, a guide for directingl said paw s so as to bring a predetermine portion of each awl in succession into a definite position, an mechanism under control of the operator and provided with a plunger moving in a path through said predetermmed position. l

2. The combination of a plunger, means for controllin the same at will, atee-lever, pawls mounts upon said tee-lever and adaptto be actuated thereby, mechanism um er that is to say, the plunger 20 being in its upcontrol of the opemtor and providedwith a permost position and the 'doors all being esp the leaves the devicein such conditionthat the The plun er 20 t ereupon engages the'pawl the various arms, rocking shafts and rods, causes the doors to close and the arts 'othernumber of doors to be' used, neither do I- limit myself to the articular construction shown;-

the latter, said mechanism ined to be engaged by said plunger, one of said when said lunger t ofthe sani e kind,

awls mounted upon lunger or engaging first one and then the other of said pawls, doors to be opened and closed, and connections from said tee-lever to said doors.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination of a framework, :1 tee-lever mounted thereupon and adapted to rock, separate pnwls engaging oppositely disposed portions of said tee-lever, a plunger for. en-

gaging said mwls alternately, means under control of the operator for actuating said plunger, doors to be opened and closed, and a conneetionfrom said tee-leverto said doors.

5. A device of the character described comprising, a pivotallyrnountml lever, pewls connected with dillerent ortions o1 seid lever, a movable member or engaging first one and then the other of said pewls, springs connected with said movable member and tending to normally retain the'same in a predetermined position yet allow said member a slight movement in consequence of the changing )ositions of the pawls, means under control oi movable member, a guide for said pswls, doors to be opened and closed, and a connection from said doors to said lever.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. v

(LARENUEELWUOI) llYOH.

\Vitnesses:

the operator tor actuating said 

